EY3 and EY4’s field trips: putting theory into practice

This past November, we took our EY3 and EY4 children on a meaningful parent-child outing to reinforce their learning in the classroom.  

Learning adventure is one of our EY3 children’s favourite daily routines. Through these activities, they have the opportunity to learn through games, storytelling and enquiry.  

Recently, our EY3 children have been learning about animals in their learning adventures. Our Robin class and Flamingo classes are quite interested in dinosaurs, for instance, while the Penguin and Owl classes are exploring the difference between pets and wild animals.

To further feed this curiosity, our teachers organised a field trip to the Shanghai Natural History Museum. The teachers first conducted their own research by visiting the museum in advance. 

They also designed a ‘Museum Exploration Guide’ full of fun activities and exercises to encourage them to explore the museum such as identifying dinosaurs and drawing their favourite animals.

When we arrived at the museum and assigned the pupils their tasks, they immediately got to work finding answers. We overheard children and their parents engaged in stimulating dialogue.

“Do you find that moving dinosaur? What features does it have?”

“Let's count how many butterflies in the glasshouse.”

“We have not found the wildlife area yet. Can you ask the staff here?”

It was such a joy to see our parents actively engaged in their children's learning. They showed such pride and a sense of achievement at what they learned. 

In EY4, our children have been exploring the earth's oceans and continents in their learning adventures. They recently took a virtual plane trip to South America and learned about the continent's geography, climate and exports. This was how they learned that much of the world's chocolate comes from South America.

To enrich their learning, we planned a trip to the Zotter Chocolate Theatre. The experience started with a movie that told the story of the Zotter family and their chocolate brand. They then followed the tour guide and tasted the bitter cocoa beans, cocoa powder, various flavours of chocolate cream and identified different spices. The children were thrilled at all of the sights, scents and flavours.

Cacao beans are shipped from South America to Zotter in Shanghai and made into pieces of chocolate, which made for an exciting learning experience. The children had the opportunity to make their own chocolate candies in the DIY area. Children chose their favourite chocolate flavour, added a variety of ingredients and handed it over to the staff for a quick freezing.  At the end of the tour, their very own chocolates were ready for them to take home.

On the second floor, the children saw the chocolate production line through the floor-to-ceiling windows. They also got to see some very strange flavour additions for chocolate, such as fish bones, passion fruit and beef soup.

This outing was an opportunity to reinforce our pupil's learning through a fun, multi-sensory experience. What they gained on this day will help them to continue their learning adventure in the classroom.

Our autumn field trip not only enabled children and parents to have fun by exploring together, but also satisfied our children's curiosity. It further forged friendships between pupils and strengthened the vital partnership between parents and teachers.